Davidson Academy holds off Zion

A night after rallying to keep their season alive, the Eagles saw their comeback effort fall short in a 9-7 loss to Davidson Academy in the losers bracket finals of the Middle/East District 2 Tournament Thursday afternoon.

“They battled right there to the very end,” said Zion Christian coach Randy Bratton. “I was proud of them. We had quite a few opportunities in the game, but we hit a lot of balls right at them.”

Despite the loss, Zion Christian (11-12) still advances to the Middle/East Region Tournament where they will be on the road to face Ezell-Harding on Monday.

“We’ve got to be ready to play Monday,” Bratton said. “All this (game) means is that we have to travel.”

The Bears (17-11), who lost to Franklin Road Academy 4-1 in the district championship game Thursday night, had to hold on late after overcoming an early 4-0 deficit to carry a 9-5 advantage into the seventh inning.

Jarrett DeLozier and Grady Burnhma sparked the rally with back-to-back, one-out singles. Following a fielders’ choice, Jake Stanfill ripped an RBI single to make it 9-6. Alex McKelvy loaded the bases back up with a single before Jesse Buckner came through with an RBI single to cut the Eagles’ deficit to two runs.

However, that was as close as Zion Christian would get as Hayden Hollingsworth got Taylor Allen to ground into a game-ending fielders’ choice. Hollingsworth earned the win in relief allowing three runs on seven hits with a strikeout and three walks in 6 1/3.

Hollingsworth was forced into action in the first inning as Zion Christian scored four early runs off of starting pitcher Lou Alexander. The Eagles first run came courtesy of an errant throw by Alexander before Allen delivered an RBI single. Grady Burnham (fielders’ choice) and Stanfill (walk) also drove in runs in the four-run first inning.

Unfortunately for the Eagles, Davidson Academy quickly answered scoring two runs in the first inning before taking the lead for good with four runs in the second inning. Luke Allison delivered a two-run triple in the rally, while Chad Isom had RBIs in both innings on a walk and single, respectively.

“We let (our early lead) slip away,” Bratton said. “You’ve got to come out and make a statement and hold them and we didn’t do that.”

The Bears extended their lead to 7-4 in the fourth inning on an RBI single from Peyton Haley.

After Austin Seaborn blasted a solo home run in the fifth inning to pull Zion Christian within 7-5. The Eagles had a chance to tie things up in the sixth inning, but they stranded runners on second and third.

After Zion Christian squandered a scoring chance, the Bears tacked on a pair of insurance runs in their half of the sixth inning on a two-run single from Steven Davis to make it 9-5.

The late runs spoiled an otherwise impressive pitching effort from eighth-grader Jackson South, who came on in relief to allow four runs on seven hits with three strikeouts and three walks in 4 1/3 innings.

“(South) did a pretty good for awhile,” Bratton said. “He’s only pitched in about three games. He’s going to be a good one.”

Jesse Buckner started and took the loss allowing five runs — four earned — on two hits with two strikeouts and three walks in an inning of work.

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